


Christmas

by Mlr96



Series: The Two Doctors [4]
Category: Criminal Minds, Doctor Who
Genre: Episode: s01e14 The Christmas Invasion
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-22
Updated: 2017-01-12
Packaged: 2018-09-01 13:45:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,800
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8626831
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mlr96/pseuds/Mlr96
Summary: Fourth in The Two Doctors series about Dr. Spencer Reid, a genius, an FBI Agent, a profiler and a Time Lord.
Story #4, Part 1:"It's – it’s like his face changed!" Rose said and Spencer froze. "There was this bright, golden light and when it died down, he looked different and talked different, like –""Like he's a completely different person."
Part 2:"Please, tell me you're seeing this, too.""We are," Mickey said. "So it's not just London, then?""Not just London, not just the UK…" Spencer replied. "Mickey, something like this… this is happening all over the world."
Part 3:“That’s what he said!” Mickey blurted out before he could stop himself.“Who?” the Doctor asked, pausing when he saw the earpiece. “Is that…?”“Mickey, there’s a button at the bottom of the earpiece,” Spencer said. “Press it.”“Pressed it.”





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry for the long wait between updates, but apparently all I needed was the Whonniversary to come along and then this came with :) To all those who reviewed at the end of the last story - thank you! I decided that for now this story will not have a pairing, but this might change later on.  
> For reference, this chapter is taking place during the Christmas Special "The Christmas Invasion"

The next couple of months passed in a haze of cases, paperwork and the occasional phone call from the Doctor. At first, Spencer was worried as he was certain the other Time Lord will find his Human life boring. It was a pleasant surprise to find out the Doctor was curious about it – he hadn’t lived a long period of time on Earth since his third regeneration and even then, working for UNIT kept things interesting.

The fact that Spencer was living a completely Human, relatively ordinary life was, in his opinion, fascinating.

"Fantastic!" he exclaimed more than once. "Absolutely fantastic! How can you possibly live in a linear order of events? Doesn’t it drive you mad?"

"It did, at first," Spencer replied. "Took me a while, but I got used to it. Not like I had much of a choice, really."

Things like that usually threw the Doctor into a long apology, even though Spencer told him, more than once, that it wasn’t necessary.

Yes, he was angry. Yes, he was hurt. Yes, at time, he even felt betrayed. But all of that was in the past.

The Doctor, in the meanwhile, seemed to run a much more interesting lifestyle. When he told Spencer about Van Statten, the profiler very nearly lost it.

"Van Statten?" he repeated. " _Henry_ Van Statten? The genius collector who's on the radar of every law enforcement agency in the world? The one who's got the FBI, CIA, MI6, Interpol and UNIT just waiting for him to screw up so they could lock him up for good?"

"Do you know another Van Statten?" the Doctor asked, more than a bit amused.

"He's got a half brother on his dad's side that's currently in a prison in Florida for drug dealing."

"Yes, Spencer," the Doctor sighed. " _Henry_ Van Statten."

The rest of the story led to a tense, almost painful conversation when the Doctor retailed the tale of the Dalek who somehow managed to survive the Time War. Even though both Time Lords agreed that there was no way anyone else could have escaped the War – Daleks and Time Lords alike – it was easy to see neither of them truly believed it.

Another interesting story was how the Doctor found a 51st century former Time Agent turned Conman in the middle of the London Blitz.

"He reminds me of you, sometimes," the Doctor said. "In your past regenerations, at least  - this one's pretty shy."

"Shy?" Emily repeated when Spencer told her.

It was Christmas Eve, and neither of them really felt like spending the Holiday with their families – Emily because her mother was attending some political event or another and Spencer because Christmas at Bennington Sanitarium was more than a bit depressing, to say the least. Instead, they met at Spencer's apartment with a bottle of wine, as was the common occurrence in the past couple of months whenever Spencer talked about his past lives as the Professor.

"What does that even mean?" Emily asked. "Why are you shy?"

"Well…" A small blush started rising on Spencer's cheeks, making Emile even more curious than she was before. "Let's just say that my past selves had quite a… _reputation_ when it came to relationships – both at the Academy and afterwards."

"Oh, really?" Emily laughed. "The Professor had it going with the ladies?"

"Er… sometimes," Spencer turned an even deeper shade of red than before, if that was even possible, "When he wanted to, definitely. It was, er… mostly the gentlemen, really."

Emily's eyes widened in shock. "No," she whispered, still smiling. "Really?"

Spencer nodded before quickly adding, "It's not such a big deal on Gallifrey. At least, not as much as it is here. When it comes to arranged marriages, it's still what you'll define as a heterosexual relationship," he added with a scowl, "But other than that, everything's fair game."

"You talk like you know from experience," Emily noted.

"Well, I ran away for a reason, didn’t I?" Spencer asked. "My father held a position in the High Council and since I was his firstborn, he wanted me to take over once I was old enough. I was lucky, really," he added. "I knew her from our Academy days, and the contract wasn’t even discussed until we were past two hundred years old. The Doctor had a contract ready for him since he started the Academy, and he had a firstborn before we even graduated. Didn’t have any others, though," he added thoughtfully. "Said he fulfilled his need for a child and since neither he nor his wife were overly keen on their marriage to begin with, he thinks that's more than enough."

"Did you have any children?" Emily asked cautiously.

"No," Spencer replied. "I ran away before my father sealed the contract. Hitched a ride with an old friend and landed right in time for the 70's to shock me. Didn’t know anybody had a worse sense of dress than the Time Lords."

"What did you do here, though?" Emily questioned, confused. "An alien in the 70's? how did you get along?"

"The Doctor worked for UNIT back then," Spencer replied. "And when they realized I was alien, too, they hired me almost instantly. Guess they thought having me on their side was better than –"

He cut off at the sound of his phone ringing, looking curiously at where it sat on his coffee table. Emily quickly reached into her bag, pulling her own phone and checking for any text messages or missed calls.

"Not a case," she said.

"No," Spencer said, taking his phone and looking at the caller ID before pressing the 'Answer' button as fast as he could. "Mickey? What's wrong?"

"It's the Doctor," Mickey said. "He's – he looks different and he's not talking – the TARDIS almost crashed – I think he's unconscious!"

"Slowly," Spencer said. "I can't understand a word you say. What happened to the Doctor?"

"Give me the phone!" a new voice said and Mickey let out a sound of protest before the phone was taken from his hand. "Spencer? It's Rose."

"Rose," he repeated. "You're the one travelling with the Doctor, right? Can you tell me what happened?"

"It's – it’s like his face changed!" Rose said and Spencer froze. "There was this bright, golden light and when it died down, he looked different and talked different, like –"

"Like he's a completely different person," Spencer finished. "Rose, the Doctor regenerated – it's what Time Lords do when they're about to die. I promise you, he's still the same man, even if it's hard to see that now. Is he awake?"

"No, he's – he's unconscious."

"Damn," Spencer muttered. While post-regenerative coma wasn’t uncommon, it wasn’t ideal either. It could last anything between mere minutes and years. "Okay, let him rest. Hopefully, he'll wake up soon, but I'll look for something to speed up the process, in case we need it."

"What are you going to do?" Rose asked. "Are you coming over?"

"I would if I could," Spencer sighed, rubbing his temples. "There's no way I could book a flight on such a short notice on Christmas Eve – at least not without attracting all of the wrong kinds of attention to myself. I'll be available on my phone," he added quickly. "If you need anything, I'm just a call away."

"Okay," Rose said and, hearing she was going to hang up, Spencer spoke quickly.

"Rose?" he asked. "What… what happened? Why did he regenerate?"

"We were in the year 200,100," she said, "At this place called 'The Game Station'. There were… there were Daleks," she breathed out, and Spencer felt his hearts clenching in his chest. "Thousands of them. The Doctor sent me away to keep me safe – I remember being here, on Earth, trying to get back to him… next thing I know, I'm at the TARDIS and he does that regeneration thing."

A million questions ran around Spencer's mind. The first of which was _what_ , exactly, had caused the Doctor to regenerate and the last, but most certainly not least, was what happened to the Daleks – and how did they get there in the first place.

But none of these were questions Rose could answer. As much as Spencer hated it, he'll have to wait for the Doctor to wake up before any of his questions would be answered.

"Okay," he said after a couple of seconds, trying to keep his voice as void of emotion as possible, "Thanks. Keep me posted and call if you need anything."

"I will," Rose promised, and the call ended.

So much for a calm Christmas Eve.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Part 2 out of 3 is now up! Tell me what you think of it :)

A couple of hours later, Spencer and Emily sat in front of the TV. Spencer had hacked into UNIT years ago, making sure that anything transmitted to them will arrive to him, as well, but right now he wished he hadn’t. He swallowed hard and Emily nervously chewed on her nails as they watched the distinctively alien face staring back at them.

"Do you recognize them?" Emily asked, her voice trembling.

"Vaguely," Spencer replied. "I know they're called Sycorax, but that's pretty much it. I don’t know anything about their society, what planet they're from, who's their leader –"

"Are they friendly?"

Spencer grimaced. "Earth isn’t exactly the center of the Universe," he said. "Not for a couple millennia, at least – there's still centuries until you guys even accomplish proper space travel. The only reason a species like the Sycorax would come here is if something attracted their attention. An energy signature of some sort."

"But Earth didn’t send an energy signature," Emily said. "Did it?"

"Earth?" Spencer asked. "No. but the Doctor had just regenerated. That's raw Time Energy at its rarest form and anything that senses that and runs _towards_ it and not _away_ …" he trailed off, letting out a heavy sigh. "I don’t know for certain if they're friendly or not," he said. "But my guess is 'not'."

"Looks like we're going to find out," Emily said, nodding towards the TV. "UNIT just received a message."

Spencer leaned closer as who he assumed was the leader of the Sycorax appeared once more and started talking. The more he heard, the deeper Spencer's frown was, and he was so focused on the alien's words that he missed the look on Emily's face.

"Spencer?" she asked slowly. "Er… care sharing what he says?"

Spencer doubled back for a moment before smiling sheepishly. "Sorry," he said. "It's kinda easy to forget that you don’t… you know…"

"Speak alien?"

"Kind of," Spencer smiled. "Most of what he says is insults, though. 'Cattle, you belong to the Sycorax…' blah, blah, blah… they seem to have claimed ownership over Earth," he muttered. "Well, that's not going to happen. 'You will surrender or they will die.' Who's _they_?"

"How should I know?" Emily asked. "Kind of the first time I meet aliens, you know."

"You met me and the Doctor," Spencer reminded her.

"It's not the same," Emily waved it off. "The Sycorax are… _alienish_. You're just… not."

"I was born a thousand light years away," Spencer said. "My understanding of humans is mediocre, at best, and that's after I spent twenty five years living as one."

"Okay, I get it, you're alien," Emily said, shaking her head. "What else did he say?"

"Er… 'Sycorax strong, Sycorax might, Sycorax rock…' well, Sycorax sure love themselves."

"So what happens now?" Emily asked. "They can't just take over the Earth… can they?"

"UNIT's handling things for now," Spencer said. "And, despite our differences, I have to say they know what they're doing… most of the time. Also, the Doctor's here and he won't let anything happen."

"The Doctor's unconscious," Emily reminded him. "What happens if he doesn’t wake up in time?"

"If he doesn’t wake up…" Spencer sighed. "If he doesn’t wake up then I'll do it myself. I'll find a way to get to London and instruct Rose and Mickey on what to do until I get there. But I don’t want to tell the Universe I'm here and alive if I don’t have to," he added worriedly. "We'll just have to wait and see how things go."

"That's it?" Emily asked. "We just… wait?"

"Yes," Spencer agreed, looking back at the television screen, which still displayed the leader of the Sycorax. "We wait."

* * *

In all honesty, Spencer wasn’t sure how did things get so bad, so quickly. He received the reply UNIT sent the Sycorax, and couldn’t help but feel pride as he read it.

_"Today is a day of peace for planet Earth. We extend our peace to you, and wish for no war between our species. But we are armed. We will defend ourselves if we are forced to. And we will_ not _surrender."_

Emily had fallen asleep at some point, the stress of the impending alien invasion finally catching up to her. Spencer stayed awake, using any source he could think of to learn everything about the Sycorax without accidently attracting their attention.

Well… almost any source.

It was around one in the morning when Emily stood up. She didn’t say anything, her eyes blankly staring forward and Spencer frowned in confusion. The confusion turned to fear when he saw blue light engulfing her head before quickly disappearing.

"Emily?" he asked worriedly, but she didn’t reply.

Instead, she stood up and headed out the door, joining others who all climbed up the stairs to the roof. They came to a stop right at the edge, looking as if they were going to jump off any moment.

"What in Rassilion's name…" he muttered, answering his phone as it rang without looking at the caller ID. "Please, tell me you're seeing this, too."

"We are," Mickey said. "So it's not just London, then?"

"Not just London, not just the UK…" Spencer replied. "Mickey, something like this… this is happening all over the world. 'Surrender or they will die.' The Sycorax leader was talking about them. But _why_? What's special about them? Why did they attack some, but not others?"

"Random choice?" Mickey offered.

"Something like that can't be random," Spencer replied. "Hang on, I've got another call. Hello?"

"I'm calling you because you're my residence genius and I'm really scared right now so please tell me you know what's going on because I have no idea, and –"

"Breathe, Garcia, _breathe_ ," Spencer said. "Calm down."

"How am I supposed to calm down when it looks like Derek is going to jump off the roof at any moment?"

"Because there's nothing you can do right now," Spencer replied. "Trust me, I know how you feel. Emily's the same right now."

"Emily, too?" Garcia asked. "But… but _how_? And why them?"

"That's the million dollar question," Spencer sighed. "Wait a minute, I'm putting someone on the line. Mickey?"

"Back to me, are you?"

"I'm connecting you to a call with one of my coworkers," Spencer explained. "She doesn’t know about the Doctor or the Professor so if she asks, you're with UNIT. Okay?"

"Lying to your coworkers," Mickey said. "Got it."

"Okay, Garcia meet Mickey," Spencer said with a sigh as he pressed a button on his phone. "Mickey, this is Garcia. You're both good at getting information so let's start. Other than everything we already talked about, what's special about today?"

"Nothing," Mickey said. "Well, it's Christmas, but apart from that –"

"You, my kind British friend, are wrong," Garcia said and Spencer let out a small sigh of relief as he heard her going back to normal. "The Guinevere One was supposed to land on Mars today."

"No, there's something… something else," Spencer muttered. "I'm missing something big. How many people are on the roofs?"

"Wait a sec… a third of the world's population."

"Why them?" he repeated. "Why them, but not others?"

"You have two cases," Garcia said. "Emily and Derek. Do what you guys do – profile the Unsub."

"They're aliens!" Mickey said.

"Do you have a better idea?"

"Stop fighting, both of you," Spencer all but bit out.

"Okay," Garcia said. "How do you find a connection between victims?"

"Search for similarities," Spencer replied. "But there's nothing – Derek and Emily have nothing in common. Different genders, difference races. He's from Chicago and she grew up all over the world. Different economy status, different medical –" he cut off, lost deep in thought.

"Spencer?" Mickey asked. "Medical what?"

"Medical records," Spencer sighed in understanding. "Are you guys up on the roofs?" he asked, barely waiting for a respond before resuming. "Ask people around you what's the blood type of the hypnotized people."

"Why?"

"Just do it."

There was silence for a couple of moments before the two came back on the line. "Blood type A Positive," Garcia breathed out.

"Here, too," Mickey said.

"And so are Derek and Emily," Spencer said. "Garcia, what was on Guinevere One?"

"Er…" Garcia typed for a couple of seconds before replying ."Whale song, bird song, spoken greetings in 120 languages, some music, water, wheat seeds and…" she gasped in shock. "A blood sample."

"A type A Positive blood sample," Spencer said. "The Sycorax are using blood control. That's illegal, that's very illegal. But it's _good_!"

"Sorry, not sure I'm following," Mickey said. "How is it good?"

"Blood control's basically hypnosis," Spencer replied, starting to run down to his apartment. "And say what you will, but you can't hypnotize someone to death. Basic survival instinct's too strong. Garcia, keep watching Derek but don’t worry – he'll be alright. Mickey, remember the earpiece I sent you a couple of months ago?"

"Yeah?"

"Put it on and get everyone into the TARDIS. I'll call you soon."

"Wait!" Garcia called out. "What are you going to do?"

"I'm gonna do some research," Spencer replied.

He arrived to his apartment and reached into the drawer where he kept the books he specifically avoided looking through earlier, searching it until he found a book written in a language of circles and lines crossing each other. He stared at it for a moment before sighing sadly. It had been over a decade since he read anything in his native language.

"It's time to wake the Doctor."


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I had this written pretty much since I uploaded ch2... Sorry I didn't upload, my life kinda became hell in the past month and a half and I only just had time to post...

“Mickey!”

Mickey winced as he answered the call that arrived to his earpiece to hear Spencer calling out into his ear.

“Mickey, I found it!” Spencer went on. “The Doctor needs a superheated infusion of free radicals and tannin! Tea, he needs tea!”

“Yeah,” Mickey muttered, looking around at the spaceship he was standing on. “A bit too late for that. Spencer, the Sycorax… they found the TARDIS. We’re on their ship.”

“Do you have a chance to negotiate?” Spencer asked and Mickey could hear ruffling of papers from the other end of the line.

“Maybe,” he muttered, just as the Sycorax leader declared Rose to be the owner of the TARDIS and, therefore, able to speak for the Earth. “Yes. She’s not the owner of the blue box,” he said quickly, stepping forwards. “I am!”

“Mickey?” Rose asked, confused.

“Trust me,” Mickey replied, tapping his ear lightly to let her know Spencer was on the line before repeating the words the Time Lord said in his ear. “I seek audience with the leader of the race known as Sycorax under Conversion 15 of the Shadow Proclamation.”

“Permission granted,” the man who held the translator said.

Mickey swallowed hard as he moved to stand in front of the leader. “It is an illegal act under article 57 to seed, burn or destroy a fully established Level 5 planet such as the Earth,” he said. “Unless, of course, a law was broken – which didn’t happen.”

“You have threatened to attack us.”

“You threatened first,” Spencer said and Mickey repeated. “Earth sent the first message at 21:47 London Time, but the Sycorax message that contained the sentence ‘Surrender or they will die’ was accepted at 21:23.”

“Earth had tried to send missiles,” the translator told him.

“Not until after you used blood control – which, if I may remind you, is illegal in all but three planets, none of which is Earth,” Spencer countered. “You have, essentially, stolen the minds of a third of the Earth’s population, and Class 374 clearly states that theft of an artefact of great cultural value legitimizes the use of lethal force to ensure the artefact’s recovery.”

“You have knowledge not of this world,” the Sycorax growled.

“You have knowledge not of this world,” the translator repeated.

“We withdraw the permission granted earlier!”

“We withdraw the – hold on, that’s English!”

“He’s talking English,” Harriet Jones repeated.

“I would never dirty my tongue with your primitive bile!”

“That’s English,” Rose said again. “Can you hear English?”

“Yeah,” Mickey agreed. “That’s English.”

“Definitely English,” the translator said.

“I only speak Sycoraxic!” the leader called out.

“If I can hear English, then it’s being translated,” Rose said. “Which means it’s working, which means…”

They all turned to look at the TARDIS just as the doors opened, revealing the Doctor who was smiling cheekily.

“Did you miss me?” he asked. The Sycorax used the moment of distraction to crack his whip at Mickey’s head, but the Doctor easily caught it and pulled it out of his grasp. “You could have someone’s eye with that,” he scolded.

“How dare!” the leader called angrily as the Doctor took another Sycorax’s staff ad broke it in half.

“You just can’t get the staff,” he said. “Now, you just wait, I’m busy. Mickey, hello! And Harriet Jones, MP for Flydale North. Blimey, it’s like ‘This Is Your Life’. Tea! That’s all I needed, a good cup of tea! Superheated infusion of free radicals and tannin.”

“That’s what he said!” Mickey blurted out before he could stop himself.

“Who?” the Doctor asked, pausing when he saw the earpiece. “Is that…?”

“Mickey, there’s a button at the bottom of the earpiece,” Spencer said. “Press it.”

“Pressed it.”

“Doctor?” Spencer asked, his voice echoing around the air. “How are you?”

“Never better,” the Doctor replied. “Bit busy, though. Call you later?”

“You better,” Spencer laughed.

“Trace the call,” Harriet whispered to her assistant behind him. “Can you trace it?”

“It’s impossible,” the assistant breathed out. “I can’t, they’re using technology that shouldn’t exist for another century.”

“You got this under control?” Spencer asked.

“You bet it.”

“Talk to you later!”

“Looking forward to it!” the Doctor laughed, turning to Rose as Spencer hang up the phone. “Now, first thing’s first. Be honest… how do I look?”

* * *

It took the Doctor three hours to call back.

As soon as he hung up the phone, Spencer ran back to the roof. It didn’t take long before Emily – and the rest of the hypnotized people – snapped out of their trance and realized where they were standing. Spencer pulled Emily away from the edge and into a tight hug.

They went back to his apartment, where Spencer explained everything that happened since she went to sleep, from the message the Humans went and up until the Doctor waking up. Emily listened carefully, sipping on her tea as he talked and asking the occasional question about things she didn’t understand.

When he was done, Emily decided to go back home. Even though he couldn’t help but feel slightly disappointed, Spencer understood. It was a long night, and she needed time to think everything that happened over.

After she left, Spencer walked back into his bedroom and looked at the books scattered on the floor. With a sigh, he started placing them back at the bottom of his bedside drawer, the news acting as background voices to his work and his phone close by.

The Doctor didn’t call before he finished, but Garcia did, multiple times. He didn’t answer any of her calls. He knew he couldn’t avoid her forever, but he planned to try until he can’t anymore.

It was bad enough that Emily knew the truth – not only did it put him in danger, but her knowledge endangered her, as well. His enemies wouldn’t hesitate to use her against him, and he refused to put any more of his friends at risk.

When the last book was placed in its hidden place, Spencer looked up at the TV. The reporter just finished explaining, for the fourth time, about the explosion of the Sycorax spaceship.

He hoped the Doctor wasn’t the one responsible. He didn’t want any more blood on his oldest friend’s hands.

His phone rang again and he glanced at it, expecting to see Garcia’s name on the screen once more. When he saw the caller ID, he nearly dropped the phone in his haste to pick it up.

_Incoming: TARDIS Phone._

“Doctor?” he answered. “What happened? Why did the ship explode? Please, tell me it wasn’t…” he trailed off, scared at the answer he might receive.

“It wasn’t me,” the Doctor replied darkly. “That was all Human.”

“Who?” Spencer asked.

“Harriet Jones,” the Doctor said.

“The Prime Minister?!”

“Not for much longer.”

Spencer sighed. “What did you do?”

He could almost hear the Doctor grimace. “I may or may have not asked her assistant doesn’t he think she looks tired,” he admitted. “It was the fastest way to ensure Britain won’t have a murderer for a Prime Minister.”

“It was Misogynic,” Spencer corrected. “But I’ll scold you for that later. What happened? Why did you regenerate? Rose said something about… about Daleks.”

“A single ship escaped the Time War,” the Doctor said. “Fell through Space and Time. Hid in the darkness. Converted humans for centuries. I found them in the year 200,100. Fought them.”

“Did you kill them?”

There was no mercy in Spencer’s voice as he asked the question, but there was no bloodthirst, either. The words were coated in a thick layer of apathy, and just a little bit of curiosity. The Doctor wasn’t sure if this was a good thing or a bad thing.

“Not me,” the Doctor sighed. “I was going to do it. Send out a Delta Wave, kill all of the Daleks… and all of the Humans on Earth. And die in the process. I sent Rose away to keep her safe but in the end… I couldn’t do it. And then Rose came back. She took in the Vortex and came back, killing all of the Daleks, but it was killing her. I had to take it out.”

“You transferred it to you and regenerated,” Spencer said in understanding.

“She doesn’t even remember it ever happened.”

Spencer took a deep breath before talking again. “I’m sorry your friend had to go through that,” he said honestly. “But… I’m also glad you didn’t press that button. I think…” He let out a shaky sigh. “I think one double genocide is enough, don’t you agree?”

“The Daleks could have returned,” the Doctor told him. “The War could have started again, with only two of us to fight this time.”

Spencer thought for a moment, weighing his words before speaking. “A little over a year ago, you told me the War had ended,” he said. “But the person you were back then… it wasn’t you. It wasn’t the Doctor, not really. Rose changed you,” he added. “She changed you for the better. Make sure to tell her I said that.”

“I will,” the Doctor promised, a small smile in his voice. “What about you? How are things on your end?”

“Well, Emily’s a bit shaken,” Spencer sighed. “Which is understandable, she _did_ go through brainwashing.”

Both Time Lords grimaced.

“Yeah,” the Doctor said, “That’s never nice.”

“And I’m pretty sure Garcia knows something’s up,” Spencer added. “I knew way too much about aliens, even by Earth standards of a genius.”

“What are you going to do?”

“Well, I’m not going to tell her,” Spencer replied. “I know that much. But if – _when_ she finds out on her own… I’ll explain.”

“You’re a good friend, Spencer,” the Doctor said.

“No,” Spencer sighed. “I’m a really bad friend. I’m just… a good Human.”

“Sure beats being a good Time Lord,” the Doctor joked and Spencer laughed. Don’t be a stranger, will you? Call every once in a while.”

“Pick up every once in a while,” Spencer retorted. “And don’t get into too much trouble!”

“I make no promises!” the Doctor called back, hanging up before Spencer could protest.

The younger Time Lord smiled, leaning back on his couch. It was clear that it will take a while to get used to this new Doctor, but maybe now that the War wasn’t so fresh in his mind, he’ll be able to move on.

It was clear that one person had already – unknowingly – made it their mission to make the old Doctor return. Rose was good for him, she really was. Now all it took was for the other Time Lord to realize it, too.


End file.
